something always present in my life was a colorful pattern. one with many stripes. and stripe after stripe and layer after layer they always created a beautiful bright pattern. something as bright and colorful as every one of my visits to peru.

the striped pattern that symbolizes so much for peru, meant something else for me. it was a symbol of question for me. something that led me to question how in touch i was with peruvian culture and something that always made me question my identity. and as a first generation peruvian-american, i questioned the balance of both cultures throughout my life because i was expected to know more about my culture. for me, it became a symbol that triggered me to look not only at my past but the past from the people who did everything they could to get me where i am now—my parents.

this led me to do two things—take a look back at everything in my life thus far and investigate how my parents’ life played a part in this. what i noticed was the similar patterns seen in both my parents life and mine. i saw these experiences and struggles as layered colors that makes up who i am. as each layer gets added, it ultimately creates something entirely chaotic, beautiful and whole, all establishing a familiar sense of identity.


*para una mejor experiencia or for a better experience, i suggest using incognito mode on chrome desktop.

**check out how this looked before it was affected by the pandemic, here.